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In this work, whitish-blue bodies wrestle on top of rumpled sheets. As Richard Meyer and Catherine Lord suggest, "Importantly, the painting's focus on their heads not only romanticizes the merging of two like spirits but also restricts the field of signifiers of lesbian visuality." Male homosexuality was a criminal offense and there was no acceptable vocabulary for being lesbian or transgender. She called the public declaration of love her "YouWe" picture, adding, "Now it is out and to the rest of the Universe I call Beware! Beware! We are not to be trifled with." But the significance of the work was not discussed at the time. The artist referred to it as the couple's "marriage" picture, decades before gay marriage would become an accepted norm. Medallion was a radical portrait to release in 1936. The painter, who became known for her still lifes, portraits, and landscapes, defiantly rejected societal pressure by wearing fastidiously tailored men's clothes and closely cut hair. Gluck was born Hannah Gluckstein, but she built an androgynous identity by insisting upon "no prefix, suffix or quotes" around her gender-neutral name. The composition evokes a sense of strength, power, and permanence. Her profile, highlighted and tempered with a brighter palette mirrors the artist. Behind her and looking up as if to the stars in the darkening night is her lover, Nesta Oberma. Her hair is dark, cropped, and masculine. The artist is in the foreground, her focused and intense expression clearly one of a painter at work. All that is visible beyond the head and shoulders of the figures is a low, green horizon. The gray background gives the piece a powerful, somber tone. This double portrait shows two women's faces in profile. This 'weightlifter' photograph has become one of the most revered (and regularly impersonated) queer icons of the twentieth century." Though Cahun's literary works and surrealist constructions are impressive, the artist's cult following is a response to the extraordinary self-portraits in which genders are swapped and mixed.
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Alex Pilcher explains, "A generation schooled in queer and postmodern thought rushed to embrace the forgotten artist as a prophet. Cahun died at the age of 60 and fell into obscurity but was rediscovered in the 1990s.
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In the portrait series Cahun transmutes from one version of herself to another, bringing both personal and political agency that has traditionally been denied to marginalized groups. Cahun consciously played with masculine and feminine stereotypes to destabilize accepted gender norms. French writer and Surrealist André Breton recognized Cahun as "one of the most curious spirits of our time" in the way Cahun rejected categorization as either a woman, lesbian, or artist. Before the late-twentieth century, non-binary identities are hard to spot or understand, but Claude Cahun changed all that, creating, along with partner Marcel Moore, a subversive body of work that explored new possibilities for gender, sexuality, and personal identity. With gender playing such a huge role in how we understand ourselves in society, transgender variance is an important subject for Queer Art. Born Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob, the French photographer, writer and political activist chose the name Claude Cahun after a number of different iterations before concluding "neuter is the only gender that always suits me".
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Cahun expression is camp, playful, and the posture is jaunty.
Don't kiss me." This deliberately and playfully contradicts the lips drawn beneath the assertion, the hearts Cahun painted onto the leggings and cheeks, and the painted, puckered lips. Written across the artist's shirt are the words: "I am in training. Nipples drawn on the long-sleeve top give the impression that Cahun is bare chested. Dressed as a weightlifter, Cahun holds a dumbbell. In this carefully posed Self Portrait the artist sits on a chair with legs crossed, facing the viewer.